[A survey by Expedia Japan found that nearly half the working population is unhappy with the long holiday that runs from April 27 through May 6. An earlier survey by the Asahi newspaper, which also included the opinions of housewives and the retired, found that more people were unhappy than were happy with the long break.]
By
Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi
 |
|
Shoppers
walk along a busy street in Yokohama, Japan, on April 29.
(Simon
Denyer/The Washington Post)
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YOKOHAMA,
Japan — It was supposed to
be a period of joyous national celebration, the 10-day Golden Week public
holiday extended this year to celebrate the ascension of a new emperor to the
Chrysanthemum Throne.
So why are so many people miserable and
stressed?
A survey by Expedia Japan found that nearly
half the working population is unhappy with the long holiday that runs from
April 27 through May 6. An earlier survey by the Asahi newspaper, which also
included the opinions of housewives and the retired, found that more people
were unhappy than were happy with the long break.
“The ridiculous idea of the century,”
complained the Daily Gendai, a tabloid popular with salarymen, as Japan’s
ubiquitous legions of office workers are known. “Only rich people are
delighted. Don’t give us 10-days consecutive holidays.”
With travel expensive and tourist sites
crowded, banks and many child-care centers closed, and some small businesses
struggling, the mammoth holiday simply isn’t turning out to be the unalloyed
celebration the government had intended.
Everything from email anxiety to social
anxiety compounds the problems for many Japanese people. The dissatisfaction
exposes the problems of overwork, inequality and social fragmentation in modern
Japan.
Part of the reason: Workers in many of
Japan’s service industries simply aren’t getting time off. Indeed, staff
shortages in the country’s tight labor market mean that many are pulling
extra-long shifts over the break. “A hellish 10 days” for the service industry,
read one tweet cited in a survey published by the Nikkei financial newspaper.
“Someone’s 10 consecutive holidays is made up
by someone else’s 10 days of consecutive service,” said one tweet shared or
liked 120,000 times, quoting a disgruntled employee of a department store who
just learned he had to work the entire period.
Another Twitter survey by User Local found
not only positive words such as “good” and “rest” associated with Golden Week
but also “service industry,” “die,” “busy,” “crowded” and “scared."
A trending blog post on Niconico, a news
portal popular with young people, summed up the mood among many: “Fit of anger
against the government from those who cannot take days off during Golden Week.”
In a post by the Career Connection media
outlet, a woman in her 30s complained that she couldn’t take any time off at
all, because the hotel where she works is fully booked. “If it was the
government who decided on a 10-day holiday, they should think about people in
the service sector who can’t take leave,” she wrote. “I wish they would at
least raise wages during the holidays.”
Golden Week refers to a string of holidays
from the birthday of the Emperor Showa to Children’s Day that come in quick
succession every year, meaning many people get the week off. The term was first
coined by movie companies to get people to take advantage of a “golden
opportunity” to watch a film, but it soon became part of common usage.
This year, the holiday has been extended, to
mark the abdication and retirement of Emperor Akihito and the ascension to the
throne of his son Naruhito, with ceremonies on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Many offices are closed, but Japan’s harried
office workers aren’t necessarily looking forward to the time off.
A survey of 600 working women conducted by
Coca-Cola (Japan) found what it called an unexpected result: Nearly 2 in 3 felt
“preholiday” stress and were despondent as the break approached.
“It’s depressing to imagine thinking about
tons of emails after the holidays,” one woman was quoted as saying, while
another worried about the work that would pile up for her during the time off.
Nor is everyone quite sure what to do with
the enforced leisure.
A survey by the Meiji Yasuda insurance
company found that three out of every four people plan to spend the week
relaxing at home. A similar proportion of those surveyed by the Spacemarket rental
company said they had no plans for the week.
Many are put off by sharp rises in airfares
and hotel rates — a website run by HIS travel agency showed that combined costs
of flights and stays have tripled over the holiday. Others can’t cope with the
crowds, or simply left it too late to make a reservation, a survey by Hankyu
Travel found.
But Spacemarket’s survey found that many
people wanted to ask their friends to hang out, but hadn’t done so because
their friends seemed “too busy” or because they were worried about rejection.
Instead, many will probably end up at home, trying to catch up on sleep and
watching TV or DVDs.
Many housewives weren’t looking forward to
the holiday, a survey by Do House found, mainly because of the added burden of
cooking and housework with their families at home. Others worried about traffic
congestion or unintended overspending.
Families with children have been complaining
for months that many child-care centers will be closed, with the problem
especially acute for parents who still have to work. Local governments have
been offering centers subsidies to stay open or offering alternative plans.
There are also concerns that hospitals are
struggling to secure enough doctors to work over the holiday or that financial
markets might react after the break are other complaints. The Daily Gendai
blamed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who are
believed to be the richest politicians in Japan.
“The common people’s reality is unimaginable
for the Abe-Aso pair,” the tabloid wrote.
Kashiwagi reported from Tokyo.
